author, academic, astronomer

Publications

The Astrotheological Origins of the Mithraic Mysteries,
Judaism and Christianity

For sale on Lulu.com and Amazon as Paperback (left); and now E-Book (right)

Despite its unfortunate contemporary associations with crystal balls, tarot cards and newspaper horoscopes, there is nothing inherently magical or superstitious about the zodiac. It is merely a belt of constellations which straddle the ecliptic. Since the dawn of time man has used these constellations and the celestial bodies to map both time and geography, and the stories attached to these movements began to take on mythologies across the world. The Greek gods, Hercules, Apollo and Dionysus are all examples of these solar entities. This book explores the astrotheological origins of the Ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern faiths; Mithraism, Judaism and Christianity. It aims to show how these sisterfaiths all sought salvation through the celestial bodies, and adopted the astral stories of their ancestors as the fundamental basis of their religion.

5/5 “I obtained this fascinating monograph through my interest in ancient near east origins of later Greek and Roman culture. Its a great and thought provoking read if you are interested in this or indeed the business of religious ideas. I hope that [Steffi] will continue to work and publish around this and related areas.”

4/5 “Intriguiging, its a paper rather than a book but it does outline the interesting parallels between the mythology around the constellations and the symbolism in religions. Also interesting is the demonstaration of how similar stories and attributes are related to various different key figures: virgin birth, water into wine, babies abandoned in rivers, halos etc.”